I can't believe that it's already January 2016, too - which means award season is upon us! The Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critics Choice Awards all take place this month, and I'll be tuning in to all three of them to see who and what movies take home the honors.

A lot of people always ask me what my favorite movie of the year is/was, and that's a hard question to answer. I didn't give ANY 5/5 star reviews this year, except for East Side Sushi, a lovely film I saw at the Cinetopia festival; however, I believe the film still doesn't have distribution. I did give a few 4/5 and 4.5/5 star reviews, though, including Room, which was based on a book of which I'm also a big fan. *all links listed are Amazon affiliate links - FYI. I sometimes make pennies off them but I do appreciate you clicking, if you see a movie here you want to buy/rent from Amazon.

TOTAL MOVIES REVIEWED IN 2015: 66(last year: 95. Guess I was busier this year!)*this number is probably more like 70-80 total if you include ones I did not review - off the top of my head, Maze Runner: Scorch Trials; Joy; Star Wars Episode VII; Straight Outta Compton; Creed; Secret in Their Eyes; Trumbo; Spectre; Burnt; Love & Mercy; The Gunman; Still Alice; Foxcatcher; A Most Violent Year; American Sniper; Mad Max: Fury Road; Big Eyes, Minions, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Steve Jobs ... = 18, so that would bring it up to 85.YES movies (in alphabetical order):

(Either there were mostly good movies last year or I was a bit nicer with my reviews than in 2014!)

NO movies:

Only ONE this year, from way back in January '15! Mortdecai. {not even going to give a link ... I remember that one as being awful.}

Favorites, by category:

Favorite movie based on a book: Room (runner-up: The Martian). So sad, but very good.Movie based on a book that was a little disappointing: The DUFF. I'm a huge fan of the book (+ all of Kody Keplinger's books) and the movie was cute, but nothing fantastic.

Favorite drama: This is a hard one. The one that stands out in my mind most vividly from the Yes list above is Our Brand is Crisis, though that was more a "dramedy" (drama + comedy). Black Mass was also very good - the story was fascinating.

Favorite comedy: Tie: Spy + TrainwreckMost fun movie of the year: Kingsman: The Secret Service. I saw it twice at screenings because I missed the first 10-15 minutes the first time around (long popcorn line ...) and wanted to see it again.

BEST surprising movie (that I thought would be so-so, but was good): No Escape. Super unrealistic, IMO, but also really good.

WORST surprising movie (that I thought would be good, but was so-so): Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. Not a BAD movie per say, but the original (Maze Runner #1) was much better. (I didn't do a theatrical review of this one, but stay tuned for a Blu-ray review coming soon)Sequel that wasn't as good as the original: Pitch Perfect 2. I still enjoyed it but the original was a bit better.Sequel that was BETTER than the original: Magic Mike XXL

Most unique movie: The WalkBest historical movie (based on real events): Selma. I gave it 4.5/5 stars.

Movie that I enjoyed, but hated the ending: The Intern

Best use of 3-D: Ant-Man

My review that most people will probably disagree with: The Big Short. I liked it but a lot of the financial stuff went over my head, and although it's already received a bajillion award nominations - as it should, since the acting was great in it - it wasn't one of my favorites of the year.

What were some of your favorite movies that you saw in theaters in 2015, and why?

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.